At age 22, Jake Virtanen has seemingly found his game, with his defensive play becoming more complete and matching his speed and headiness in the offensive zone.Christian Petersen / Getty Images files

To say that the fourth-year winger, at age 22, is having a career year is an understatement — and that's just looking at the main scoreboard

Jake Virtanen is two goals away from setting a career high, and it’s not even halfway through the season.

After scoring Thursday against the Predators, he has nine goals in 31 games this year. He scored 10 in 75 games last season.

To say that the winger is having a career year is an understatement — and that’s just looking at the main scoreboard.

The truth is, he’s taken big steps forward in his overall game, both from the eye test and by the numbers.

The Abbotsford-raised winger has always had a solid two-way game: even as a rookie he posted solid shot-attempt splits. But his defensive game has become more nuanced, more complete, coach Travis Green said earlier this season.

That Virtanen was promoted to Bo Horvat’s wing this week was a statement about how the coach feels about where Virtanen’s game is right now, given the tough opposition Horvat has been tasked with defending against this season.

Virtanen has also featured in overtime and late in games, such is the faith the coach has in the 22-year-old’s two-way judgment.

Anecdotally, the passes he made to set up Adam Gaudette in Los Angeles last month — the rookie centre’s first National Hockey League goal — and Horvat on Thursday night at Rogers Arena, would serve to confirm this.

And again, there are numbers to look at: so far this season, he’s posting the best primary-assist rate of his career. He’s setting up his teammates for goals better than ever and has picked up five assists already, halfway to last-year’s career assists high.

Asked about the saucer pass he fired across to Horvat on a first-period 2-on-1, Virtanen beamed with pride.

“I’ve been working on it a bit,” he said, though he also said there was some luck involved in completing the saucer pass, which skipped over the stick of Predators defenceman Roman Josi.

Canucks winger Jake Virtanen takes a stick to the back from New York Islanders â and former Canuck â defenceman Luca Sbisa during an NHL game last month at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. (Photo: Bruce Bennett, Getty Images files)Bruce Bennett /
Getty Images files

If this new passing skill set is real, it’s a powerful item to add to the package that Virtanen already brings to the Canucks’ lineup.

We’ve long known Virtanen is a strong skater, and when he finds space to fire the puck he’s got a deadly shot as well.

This makes sense when you look at Virtanen’s scoring record. In junior with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, he wasn’t known for his assist totals. What he was known for was being bigger and stronger than his peers as well as a fantastic skater.

His goals saw him burst away from defenders, taking on goalies one-on-one.

As has been noted, this essential part of his game has been difficult to transition to the NHL, where defenders are massively better skaters than they are in junior, not to mention being much stronger.

Playing with a centre like Horvat, whose straight-ahead style has some similarities to Virtanen’s, necessitates having a few more wrinkles to one’s game.

Horvat is a great shooter, as evidenced by his finish on the Virtanen pass Thursday. He had to collect the puck after knocking it down off a bounce, then fire it over goalie Pekka Rinne, which is no mean feat in itself.

Listen: White Towel podcast: No better time for tough love

Two days after Nikolay Goldobin was scratched to some controversy, Patrick Johnston and Harrison Mooney are here to take further stock of the Canucks, who might just find themselves in a realm of sadness when the end of the year comes. The guys talk about lineup decisions, about ambitions and about reality. This is the White Towel podcast on Province Sports Radio. Listen here:

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